The Last Gentleman

Chapter 19

Faced with the choice given by boss, Yi Chen didn't hesitate. He stepped forward into the "sister's room."

Creak creak~

A strange sensation underfoot made an odd noise.

His foot had landed directly on a floor covered in fish scales.

At that moment, both his sense of smell and sight were overwhelmed by the room’s atmosphere.

A nearly tangible stench filled the air, like a living stick of rot that invaded Yi Chen's body, repeatedly striking his stomach.

In his view, the ground was covered in fish scales, some even embedding themselves into the damp floor as if they had grown directly from the room.

If it had been the Yi Chen who first arrived in this world, he likely would have protested this sight by vomiting.

Creak creak~

“Whew! Finally, I can breathe properly… this place really is unsettling.”

A voice came from the bathroom.

The boss seemed to be performing some kind of “treatment” on his sister, with large amounts of blood seeping from under the door.

Before stepping into the bathroom, Yi Chen glanced into a corner of the room, noticing an important and unusual detail.

In that corner was a solid wooden desk, surrounded by walls and floors covered with fish scales. Yet the desk itself remained spotless, without a single scale or even a hint of damp mold.

It seemed the desk held significance to the sister, who likely cleaned it every day.

On the desk were a few framed photos, including a family portrait and a photo of the brother and sister.

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The sister in the photo had dark, curly hair, and her close relationship with her brother was evident.

Yi Chen quietly etched this scene into his memory.

Creak

He turned and pushed open the slightly ajar bathroom door, revealing a disturbing sight.

This bathroom was larger than the others and included a bathtub.

The sister was lying in the bathtub, her limbs tightly restrained by the tub’s binding devices. Compared to her appearance last night, she looked a bit more “human”… specifically, the fish scales on her body had significantly reduced.

However, these flesh-attached scales hadn’t fallen off on their own.

Instead, the boss was tearing them out one by one, scattering them inside and outside the tub.

At this moment, the sister's screams had weakened considerably. The intense pain and copious bleeding were draining her life away…

She had almost stopped struggling, her thin, gilled face utterly devoid of color.

Only the scales on both sides of her abdomen remained, with about forty left. The situation looked grim.

Before the boss could speak, Yi Chen was the first to say, “Boss, your sister seems to be advancing to the ‘third stage’ of the disease, right? The situation doesn’t look good. May I take a closer look?”

The boss was taken aback, not expecting this young man, who had only been here for a little over a day, to have already identified the stages of the “Ichthyosis” disease.

He nodded slightly in permission.

Yi Chen carefully approached the bathtub. Though he wasn't from a medical background and knew little about the science behind it, the plants within him could sense the loss of life force.

“Boss, do you want me to remove the remaining scales?”

“Yes.”

With the boss’s approval, Yi Chen gently placed his hand on the sister’s abdomen, touching the surface of the scales.

Tender new roots stretched out along the gaps between the scales, burrowing under the skin.

The tips of these roots released a natural fluid with healing properties, slowly and gently lifting each scale out. This method reduced the bleeding and caused minimal pain… even giving a slight tingling sensation.

The only drawback was that it was somewhat slow.

Yi Chen meticulously removed the scales from her abdomen while using his other hand to apply roots to the areas of heavy bleeding, weaving them to stop the blood flow.

During the process, the sister’s onyx-like eyes gazed at the guest in front of her.

The boss remained quietly by her side.

At that moment…

Little Grape's voice echoed in Yi Chen's mind.

"Hey! Do you have any idea what you’re doing? The person in front of you is an 'infected' by the Disease. If she successfully sheds her scales, she'll fully evolve into an intelligent [Pathogenic infected Being].

They’re the source of this world’s plague and decay! By nature, they resent the uninfected, and their instincts drive them to invade and occupy your body."

“If they really intended harm, they’d have done it last night. Besides, since I entered the bathroom, the boss has had plenty of chances to act.

I still don’t fully understand this world, but from what I’ve observed and deduced, I conclude that helping her could be worthwhile. If we can establish a mutual aid relationship, we might uncover critical clues about this town’s truth and the mastermind behind it, and pass the organization’s evaluation with flying colors.”

"I really doubt you’re a creature of this world. Your actions might rub some humans the wrong way… but it’s interesting."

Little Grape said no more and silently observed the boss’s every move.

Like a major surgery, eight hours passed until the last scale was extracted.

By then, it was noon the next day. The boss turned on the bathtub faucet, submerging his sister in the water.

When she awakens, she’ll be fully transformed into what Little Grape called a 'Pathogenic Infected Being.'

At that moment, the boss gently placed a hand on Yi Chen’s shoulder. Yi Chen, still slightly on guard, instinctively reached for his hatchet.

However, it was only a gesture of gratitude.

“Thank you, Mr. William.”

“No problem… I helped willingly.”

“You can rest now. I’ll make sure nothing disturbs you while you sleep. When you wake, it’ll probably be night... and you’re welcome to come down for dinner.”

Yi Chen made an "OK" gesture and turned to leave.

Back in his room, the exhaustion was overwhelming.

Little Grape detached himself, standing guard by the door.

“Hurry up and get some rest. I’ve slept enough inside you already. Don’t overwork yourself. If this brother-sister duo gives us useful information or even lends a hand, we might just get that super-sized eyeball.”

But Yi Chen, leaning against the bed’s headboard, couldn’t shake his concern.

“After tonight, the assessment countdown begins. I doubt tonight will be peaceful. When the sun sets, wake me up.”

“Enough talk—go to sleep already!”

Little Grape, like a security guard, moved a wooden chair to the bed, sitting watchfully beside him.

---

It was the most restful sleep Yi Chen had since arriving in Green Lake Town.

Possibly due to the plant inside him, he woke naturally as the sun set, photosynthesis ceased, and sleep faded.

His blurry eyes opened to an oversized mouth, filled with black fur around it, staring at him with a bulging eye almost glued to his face.

In a distorted voice from merged vocal cords, it said, "You’re awake?"

“Little Grape, stop scaring me!”

Dressing up and gearing up, Yi Chen opened his room door to pitch darkness—the hallway’s candlelight gone, leaving only inky shadows.

He lit the kerosene lamp on his waist, stepping as quietly as possible toward the first floor.

Descending the stairs, a tantalizing aroma wafted into his nose. Following it, he spotted a partially open door near the first-floor counter, candlelight spilling out.

Yi Chen pressed himself against the wall, peeking through the door. Inside, the guest room had been set up like a dining hall.

A wooden round table was laden with various fish dishes and soups. The boss was there, along with a black-haired woman, draped in a light white dress covering her still-healing body.

Noticing a scent by the door, she turned her fresh, pale face toward the entrance. The gills on her cheeks were gone, making her look entirely human.

“Mr. William, come join us for dinner~”